Let Mueller finish

February 17, 2018Letters to the Editor

In a Feb. 15 column “Senators raise troubling questions,” Marc Thiessen writes, “The senators further confirm that the FBI did not, in fact, tell the court the full provenance of the dossier, writing ‘the application failed to disclose that the identities of Mr. Simpson’s ultimate clients were the Clinton campaign and the DNC.’” And, “it appears that the FBI relied on admittedly uncorroborated information, funded by and obtained for Secretary Clinton’s presidential campaign, to conduct surveillance of an associate of the opposing presidential candidate.”

The writer also reiterates that the FBI’s information was based on a partisan document paid for by the Clinton campaign.

Thiessen made a glaring omission, however. Fusion GPS, a research company, was originally hired by The Washington Free Beacon, a conservative website, to do opposition research on Donald Trump and other Republican candidates. It was after Trump won in the primaries that the Clinton campaign and the DNC paid Fusion GPS to continue its investigation of Trump. Then, Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson kept finding so many leads to Trump’s Russian activities that he hired former MI6 British intelligence agent Christopher Steele to investigate that angle through Steele’s Russian contacts. What has been called “The Steele Dossier” is a series of memos collected by him.

Steele has stated he went to the FBI because he felt he was sitting on evidence of criminal activities; not as part of an effort to smear Trump. The FBI has stated that it has independently corroborated some of the information from the dossier, which led to its seeking FISA warrants.

For a year now, Trump has been screaming “Witch Hunt!” but four of his campaign staff have been arrested in connection with this very real scandal. Two have pleaded guilty. Members of Trump’s Cabinet have been exposed for illicit contacts with Russians.

I believe Robert Mueller will do a thorough and fair investigation, and Trump should shut up and let Mueller finish his job.